Biography
Jimmy Makulis was a Greek pop singer. He sang in bars and clubs in Athens and won a singing competition in in 1949, which soon made him a successful singer in his home country. In 1955 Makulis came to Germany, where he first recorded two singles. His first great success in German-speaking countries was in 1956 the song “Auf Cuba sind die Mädchen braun”. The greatest success came in 1959 with “Gitarren klingen leise durch die Nacht”. People started calling him ‘The Sinatra of the Orient’. In 1961, he played in a movie “Auf den Straßen einer Stadt”. In the same year, he represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1962 he took part in the German national selection for the contest.
In 1966, Makulis moved to the US, where he scored some notable successes in Las Vegas.
In 1985, Jimmy Makulis returned to Greece. There he took part in 1990 in the Greek national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. In the early 1990s, he returned to Germany, where he still could achieve a few minor successes. His last CD released was “I Don`t Think I Ever Told You” in 2006.
On October 28, 2007 Makulis, who was married to the Berlin-based Monika, died at the age of 72 years in a hospital in Athens, after he had undergone heart surgery.
